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tv   ABC World News Now  ABC  January 10, 2011 3:05am-4:00am PST

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export it around the country. >> reporter: political battles are heated everywhere but the temperature is especially hot in arizona. the sheriff of pima county where congresswoman gabrielle giffords was critically injured and several others killed or wounded, warned political vitriol has gone too far. >> to try to inflame the public on a daily basis, 24 hours a day seven days a week has impact on people, especially who are unbalanced personalities to begin with. >> reporter: giffords, a centrist democrat, has been the target of plenty of anger. someone brought a gun to one of her health care rallies. the door of her tucson office was kicked out or shot out, and tea party member sarah palin's political pac put giffords in the crosshairs. >> people have to realize there's consequences to that action. >> reporter: a palin aide said the image was never meant to invoke violence and any effort to politicize it is disgusting. if democrats and republicans expressed anger at the shooting.
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>> an attack on one who serves is an attack on all who serves. >> reporter: the house of representatives has postponed legislative business for the week, and many hope the national tragedy moves people to cool the divisiveness. tahman bradley, abc news, washington. later this half hour, the challenges gabrielle giffords may face overcoming that brain injury. then stay tuned with abc news for more live coverage on the tucson shootings on "america this morning" and "good morning america." at 11:00 a.m. eastern time this morning, abc news will have special live coverage of the moment of silence in tucson to remember the victims. and now shifting gears to our other major story on this monday morning, a widespread winter storm that is slamming much of the south. at least a dozen states from texas to virginia are now being hit. the heaviest snow so far has been in southern arkansas, as well as parts of texas and oklahoma where half a foot has already fallen. >> and about 2,000 flights at atlanta's airport have already been canceled. the city is expecting up to a half a foot of snow. that's nearly three times the
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amount of snow that it usually falls in atlanta all winter. and worse yet, all that snow is expected to turn to ice later this morning. >> i was flying in from dallas. it was shocking to see snow as i'm leaving dallas to come back to new york. >> a few delays yourself. >> yeah. >> officials across the south are telling people to stay home unless it's absolutely necessary. for what to expect, we're joined by accuweather meteorologist ava dinges. good morning. >> good morning, rob and vinita. what a way to get back into the workweek. it's all weather's fault. we are talking about snow from bismarck to denver. all the way down towards atlanta. so basically covering about 1,500 miles. and that's going to amount to plenty of delays as we head back into this busy monday. we're expecting in the southeast not only the heavy snow but also the icing. and icing may be an even bigger concern. that's when the roadways really become treacherous. just a mess to drive on. that's something we're really watching as we go throughout the day. heavy icing across mississippi. but now that's starting to taper off. now building mostly into alabama. building into georgia and we'll
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continue to track into the carolinas as well. some areas could easily see about a half inch of ice on the ground. and heavy snow is going to be a problem as well. anywhere from atlanta up towards the north. but cities like atlanta, it's going to be a whole mixed bag. they'll get pieces of sleet, and ice and heavy snow. looks like north of atlanta some places could see upwards of a foot of snow, slowing down travel all over the place and atlanta itself expecting plenty of travel concerns because of the icing and also mixing with the snow. >> ava, pretty unusual for the southeast to get this kind of ice and snow, right? >> absolutely. we get about one good ice storm in the southeast every year. once a year not enough for people to be really prepared. a lot of people taken off guard by this. >> ava, appreciate it. >> i guess i was lucky i got that one miraculous one. >> we'll be right back with more "world news now." "world new w." miraculous one. >> we'll be right back with more "world news now." [ male announcer ] covergirl introduces
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of course, we return to our top story this morning, the tragedy in tucson. one of the big questions everyone is asking, how did gabrielle giffords survive a point blank gunshot to the head? doctors say it's part excellent medical care and part good luck. >> and while they are encouraged by her condition, they say her road to recovery will be a long one. to get an idea of just how long and how giffords survived all of this, david muir spoke to our medical editor dr. richard besser and bob woodruff who survived a traumatic brain injury himself. >> you learned today that the bullet pierced the left side of her brain. we were initially told it went through the front and out the back. is that your understanding? >> i brought a skull to show you. the bullet went in the back of the skull on the left side and went straight through and out the front. and that has important meaning in terms of her survival and why she survived. inside is the brain.
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and again, the bullet went straight through one side. if it had crossed over to the other side, that would have left her if she survived, with many more deficits because the connections between the two halves of the brain are very, very important. the angle of the bullet had been a little lower it would have gone into the fluid-filled sacs in the brain. neurosurgeons say that's a poor sign in terms of survival. this went straight through. one inch either way and she likely would have died on the scene. >> which brings us to the next part we heard today which is that part of the skull had actually been removed. and we learned about that and also we all thought of our own friend here, bob woodruff who is with us here in the studio. and, bob, we hadn't heard much about when there's brain injury and what doctors do to remove part of the skull until we reported on you a couple of years back, the attack in iraq. how big of a deal was it when your skull was removed in respect to your own survival? >> without question, when the -- we know now that the brain is
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now swelling in a situation like this. both if there's a bullet that goes through and also when there's an impact of an explosion like it was with mine where the brain was rattling around. if they had not taken this off, then my brain would have swelled right into the edge of the skull and probably i wouldn't be able to -- maybe not even alive right now, probably not able to speak. also on the left side they took off 16 centimeters of my skull. i don't know how big the congresswoman's amount of her skull was actually taken off, but it's about this size as it was for me. now she'll have to sleep probably on the side so that she does not damage that. when she wakes up she'll have to wear a helmet. because it's on the left side, if it's true that the speech issue you have what's called aphasia. she's going to have a loss of memory of names. when i woke up, i couldn't remember the names of my children, let alone any state in our country or any countries in the world. it depends on where it was hit, how it was hit and how much it
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rattled around for various reasons. it could be other types of impact. >> one thing you reminded me of earlier, initially you weren't responding to commands. >> in this sense she's in a way, a better situation than i was in because when the doctors did gather, when i was also induced into coma, they tried to get me to respond under command. i did not. i did not squeeze their finger when that happened. this is great news for her. we can't predict it but i got to tell you i've got great hopes for her that she's going to get better. also, she's probably not going to remember it. >> i did want to ask rich what you made when you heard from doctors when they said she's responding by squeezing. she can hold up two fingers was one of the reports. that's very encouraging is it not? >> it's very encouraging. they haven't said whether it's both sides, but that really indicates very complex functioning. she has to hear that command. she has to process that command. and then the nerves that are -- that go out to the muscles to do
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that action have to be intact. so that -- it's very important. when you first see someone after an injury, the first thing that you want to do is ask them to speak, ask them to open their eyes and ask them to follow a command. and they can predict whether they are going to survive and how they are going to do. >> you know you have to say something about the doctors and the nurses and medics in situations like this and the military now, it was 37 minutes for me at the time this thing hit. two helicopters, then i was right in front of the doctors ready to get this removal of the skull. i think in this one, 38 minutes before they start with the traumatic surgery on this. right there, we don't know -- if this is five years ago, would she have survived, been able to serve quite this well? we don't really know. this is a huge change over history. >> there were 14 surviving victims of the 20 folks impacted by this. she's the only one, the congresswoman left, still in critical condition. the next few days are critical in understanding how much brain function she's lost if any at all. we're not out of the woods yet. >> great to hear from bob woodruff. a lot of the reason there's such excellent medical care is
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they've learned so much in treating soldiers and people like bob who have been overseas and suffered these almost catastrophic brain injuries. who would have ever thought you'd remove a part of the skull to help someone live. >> thoughts and prayers with her and the family. searching for common scientific ground. >> after yet another flock of birds is found dead. are all these incidents related? you're watching "world news now." incidents related? you're watching "world news now."
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welcome back, everybody. we now turn to the mystery that has everyone really scratching their heads and looking to the sky a little bit. why all these birds keep dying. >> there's another incident, this time in italy, making it a global phenomenon. so should we worry the sky is falling or is this really no big deal? here's matt gutman. >> reporter: they are calling this the aflockolypse. turtledoves falling from the sky in italy, littering roads, hanging lifeless in trees.
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it looked like a scene from hitchcock's "the birds." eerily similar to the mass bird kill in louisiana this week, which looked like beebe, arkansas. 3,000 dead birds there. leaving locals confused. >> can i help you? >> yes, ma'am, i was wondering why all the birds are just like dying. >> we are trying to find that out. >> reporter: mass bird deaths recorded this week from all across the world from arkansas to new zealand. each incident shocking on its own. 100 tons of dead fish in brazil, 40,000 crabs in britain. and this in foley beach, south carolina. >> smells like bad seafood. >> reporter: what is going on? >> these kinds of incidents take place every single day. in fact, 163 incidents are reported to the federal government every year. >> reporter: so if these animal deaths are not unusual, what causes them? conspiracy theorists would say ufos, solar flares or secret air
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force tests. medical professionals offer more mundane answers. >> it was new year's eve. it could have been fireworks that frightened the birds. >> reporter: but there may be an invisible hand in all of this. our hand. we're more connected, wired viral than at any time in history. >> things that were below radar are now above the radar. everyone is amazed by something that happens every day. >> reporter: but just because this is part of the natural process, doesn't mean these images are easy to process. matt gutman, abc news, miami. with the turtledoves that were falling in italy, one big question was there was a mysterious blue stain on some of the birds' beaks. they are saying that could be poisoning. they're not sure if it could be that. they are also fears there could have been overeating of sunflower seeds. >> so bizarre. and these are really common. 90 mass deaths of birds between june and mid-december.
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this is really more common than people thought. we'll be right back. people thought. we'll be right back.
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i'm sorry to admit on this edition of insomniac theater i leave rob hanging alone. i was stuck in weather as we've been talking about. there was so much bad weather rolling into the south. i got stuck in it. 11 hours. i didn't get to see a movie. i'm lucky to have gotten in. >> i'll carry the load here. i'll do it "country strong." that's the movie i was lucky enough to check out. if you've seen the previews, you probably get the basic plot here. gwyneth paltrow is a huge country star trying to rehabilitate her career. the movie opens with her in rehab battling back from addiction to alcohol and some pills. she's kind of into that whole scene.
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it's taken a toll on her career. she embarks on this big comeback because she's country strong. they're trying to resurrect her career despite all these problems. her husband played by country star tim mcgraw is also a manager here. and partly the movie takes an interesting look at the relationship they have and kind of the deteriorating state of their marriage. but there is some genuine love between these two. just the price that fame has made them pay. take a listen. >> the first time i heard you sing, i knew. i wasn't much of a church man but i thought that must be what angels sound like. i thought i'd died and gone to heaven. >> that's not the only relationship explored in the movie. there's a guy named beau who is another rising country star. and leighton meester plays the young barbie doll princess coming up. they all go become on tour as
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gwyneth tries to rehab her career here. and some tangled relationships emerge from these three players. the husband, the young star, beau, and gwyneth, too. take a listen. >> you're going to let this prom queen get up on the stage? patsy cline sang here. >> i don't care if she sings yankee doodle dandy, she's still going to play. you have the same three songs. >> don't worry, beau. i have no intention of stealing your invisible career. you see, i want one. >> i didn't expect to like it as much. i gave it three kernels out of five. the acting pretty decent. i'm not a country music fan but some songs in here weren't bad. some cheesy moments but unconventional ending which helped save the movie. not bad if you like gwyneth. stick to her day job. >> i heard tim mcgraw, and he doesn't sing in a movie about country music. that's shocking. >> it's very disappointititititi
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senseless shooting. the rampage in tucson, the suspect's charges, and a very innocent victim. >> she had a beautiful soul and heart. and she was so kind, and she wanted to help others. >> the search now for answers. serious storm. the winter blast in the south. and this morning's state of emergency. and plugged in. ford's new focus on electric cars. the trend today in detroit. it's monday, january 10th. from abc news, this is "world news now." >> we start the week on a somber note. of course, we're talking about the fatal shootings in tucson this past saturday. it dominated news coverage all weekend long. we now know 14 people shot and six killed. of course, so many thoughts and prayers are with the representative there. >> still in critical condition.
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the only victim still in critical condition. hopefully will come out of this. signs are good, which is encouraging. >> good morning. and thanks for being with us. i'm vinita nair. >> i'm rob nelson. the nation will pause later this morning to remember the victims of the shooting on saturday in tucson. hundreds of supports are gathered for a candlelight vigil outside the hospital where congresswoman giffords is recovering. >> more charges are expected to be filed against the suspected gunman, jared lee loughner, who is due in court later today. >> t.j. winick is joining us from tucson with the latest details. >> reporter: good morning, rob and vinita. congresswoman gabrielle giffords and the other shooting victims continue to recover here at university medical center where you can see there's quite a large makeshift memorial with balloons and flowers and candles. we learned more about their conditions yesterday and there is encouraging news. also on sunday, the suspect was officially charged. he will be arraigned later today at federal court in phoenix. >> did you say gabrielle giffords was hit? >> reporter: representative
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gabrielle giffords is in a medically drug-induced coma. her long-term prognosis still unclear. many are calling it a miracle she even survived the point blank gunshot to her head. >> if this had been off by an inch or the angle or trajectory off by 5 or 10 degrees it could have been a different scenario. >> of the 14 survivors shot saturday, giffords remains in critical condition. a dozen others are also at university medical center in tucson. six victims lost their lives, including federal judge john roll, giffords aide gabe zimmerman and 9-year-old christina taylor green. she was recently elected to her school's student council and wanted to meet the congresswoman. >> she came into the world on 9/11, and then at 9 years old, she leaves it on this terrible day. >> reporter: the suspect, 22-year-old jared lee loughner, remains in fbi custody as investigators probe possible connections to extremist groups. according to authorities, loughner bought the murder weapon, a glock 19 9 millimeter
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handgun last november at this sportsman's warehouse in tucson. he was only stopped from killing more innocent bystanders when three bystanders intervened as he was reloading. >> fortunately, the spring in the magazine failed and the two gentlemen were able to get it away from him and subdue him until the law enforcement people arrived. >> reporter: president obama has called for a national moment of silence later today at 11:00 a.m. eastern time for those killed on saturday and those survivors still here at the hospital. rob and vinita? >> flags at the capitol and the white house have been lowered to half staff out of respect for those killed in the shooting in tucson. business as usual has now come to a halt in congress as well. with more on that, here's jonathan karl. >> reporter: they have canceled all business next week, all regular business. instead they'll meet on wednesday to have a resolution honoring gabrielle giffords and the other victims of the shooting and also a security briefing with all members, the
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fbi and the capitol police to talk about their own security. and many of them are saying they don't want security to come between them and their constituents, including one democrat we spoke to today. one democratic leader had this to say. >> i think we need to recognize that we're a representative body. and our title, representative, is a meaningful one. and we need to not build a security cocoon around us so significant that the public doesn't feel like they can't have access to us. >> one democrat, one republican of utah told politico that they will be packing heat. they will be taking guns with them when they go to events back in their districts now because they are so concerned about security. >> that was abc's jonathan karl. the house speaker john boehner told lawmakers on a conference call sunday that it was time for congress to pull together as an institution. investigators say they've found specific evidence that now shows congresswoman giffords was the target of the gunman jared lee loughner. those who know congresswoman
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giffords say they can't understand why anyone would want to harm her. with more, here's christiane amanpour. >> reporter: gabrielle giffords is the rare politician who's respected and liked by colleagues in both parties. a democrat, she's now been elected three times to serve her largely republican district. she does not fit easily into political categories. >> she's just an absolutely delightful person. so it doesn't make any difference whether you are an "r" or a "d." we are out there trying to do the best job we can. >> reporter: she's a gun owner and champions gun rights. a motorcyclist who sided with bikers wanting to ride without helmets. she's argued for troops at the mexican border but opposed arizona's tough new immigration law, and she passionately backed health care reform. a fulbright scholar, ceo of her family's tire company, in 2007, she married space shuttle commander mark kelly, making her the only congress member with an active duty spouse.
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mark kelly continues his vigil in the hospital behind me. and he's also scheduled to command the last shuttle mission to the international space center. christiane amanpour, abc news, tucson. >> later this half hour, our coverage continues with the profile of the very young gunshot victim. we'll take you live to tucson for the latest on "america this morning" and later on "good morning america." then at 11:00 eastern, look for live abc news coverage of the moment of silence, paying tribute to the victims in arizona. and moving on to our other big story this morning. a major winter storm that is causing widespread problems across most of the south. thousands of flights have already been canceled at the airport in atlanta. that city could get up to half a foot of snow. more than atlanta usually gets the entire winter.
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and the heaviest snow so far has fallen in southern arkansas and parts of texas and oklahoma. on top of that, parts of mississippi and alabama are expecting their worst icing conditions in more than a decade. governors in a number of southern states are simply telling people to stay home today to avoid all those dangerous conditions on the roadways. >> been through it here in the northeast. welcome to it. states of emergency have been declared in louisiana, alabama, georgia and tennessee. >> what is next? and where is this huge storm going next? accuweather meteorologist ava dinges has the latest. hi, ava. >> good morning, rob and vinita. vinita, you mentioned the northeast has been through it. they may be going through it again into the upcoming days and it will be because of these storms. two storms right now. one in the southeast bringing the heavy snow. also the icing and another one on the heels in the plains bringing up to a foot of snow in cities like omaha and kansas city. obviously, those cities in the plains much more used to heavy snow like this, whereas the southeast not expecting this much snow all the time.
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they'll be caught off guard by this major winter storm. and we have not only the heavy snow, mainly north of atlanta, but also that icing. and parts of i-20, absolutely treacherous travel conditions. in fact, south of i-20 right now, many counties are closed right now into central alabama because of the icing conditions. and we expect these emergencies to continue at least through most of tuesday. then we'll continue to track that heavy snow building across the carolinas as well where even charlotte could see 3 to 6 inches. we are expecting widespread travel delays not only across the interstates but also at the airports as well. many flights have already been canceled and that's going to be the story as we go throughout the day. some places may be getting upwards of 6 even 12 inches of snow. for atlanta, this mainly changing over to an icy mix. here is yet to come for the northeast. they're not in the clear. these two snowstorms are going to come together and create a disruptive snowstorm yet again. anywhere from northern new jersey back into new york city and even into boston. now we still have to track exactly where this storm goes and who is going to get what. but it is on the way. back to you, rob and vinita. >> more good news for us.
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thanks, ava. the storms just never want to miss us. the uber chilly temperatures on the east coast pose no problems for thousands of strap hangers who dressed lightly for a ride on the rails. >> and lightly dressed is an understatement. these people weren't wearing pants. in washington and dozens of other cities around the world, thousands showed up for the annual no pants subway ride. >> i call that donald ducking it. just going without any pants. organizers instructed the flash mobs to board the trains, then remove their pants and skirts and act as though this was perfectly normal. look at them gams. >> looking good. >> we'll be right back. >> you can tell it's winter. look at them gams. >> looking good. >> we'll be right back. >> you can tell it's winter.
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we want to return to our top story this morning. the tragedy in tucson. as you know, 20 people were shot saturday. congresswoman giffords remains in critical condition this morning in a medically induced coma. the 13 other wounded are all reportedly recovering well, but six of the victims did not survive. >> one of those victims was john roll, a 63-year-old federal judge. roll was just stopping by saturday's event to say hello to gabrielle giffords on his way to mass. he leaves behind a wife maureen, three sons and five grandchildren. we now know the youngest victim was a 9-year-old girl. >> george stephanopoulos sat down with the parents of little christina taylor green for this very emotional interview. >> when you talk about her, you describe her the same way that people actually describe congresswoman giffords.
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someone passionate about everything. >> yeah. and that's -- that is a good word. i just remembered people would ask me what some of her nicknames were. and she is tenacious. you know, that's why we thought her interest in politics was interesting because she was very good with people yet tenacious. that would have been a good quality in politics. but it's also, you know, it's good in a lot of different areas in life. and so we nicknamed her -- she used to give a little face. we nicknamed her bobcat. >> bobcat? >> yeah. she'd give a little snarl when she didn't like something. >> what is the one thing that you hope everybody listening can remember about her and take away from this? >> i think one thing about christina is just beautiful inside and out. she had a beautiful soul and
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heart, and she was so kind. and she wanted to help others. and shortly before this happened, we cleaned out her whole room, and she put all these toys and clothes and shoes in various bags and she couldn't wait to go give them away to someone less fortunate. and she was just a giver. she was strong. she was brave. she was fearless. but she also had a kind heart. and she was sweet. >> i think it's a tough balance these days is having that intense passion and tenaciousness. >> i hope talking about her helps you all. >> it does. and that's really the only reason we're out and about. i'd much rather spend more of the time with my family and friends, but i think people should know more about christina. >> we wanted to honor her this way.
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we appreciate this opportunity because, you know, christina taylor was an amazing little girl. and the other people were, obviously, as well. and we're hoping for the best for them and praying for their families, but she was an amazing little girl. and she got robbed of all the wonderful things she could have done. >> another amazing detail, too. christina was born on september 11th, 2001, the day of the attacks and died, obviously, saturday as well. her life literally book ended by these two horrible tragedies. >> and the entire nation is in mourning. flags are flying at half staff. i think we have an image in flagstaff of them. you can see them right there. we want to remind you, you can see the full interview with christina's parents coming up on "good morning america." george will be anchoring the show live from tucson. we'll be right back.
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♪ skinny so skinny
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you know, her show had 3.2 million viewers, which are numbers you and i can only dream of. >> yeah, that's for sure. >> but sarah palin has decided she doesn't want to do the show for a second season on tlc. >> all done, huh? >> there's rumors now, like people talking out loud saying could this be a sign she wants to run for 2012 and maybe this is an indication she wants to be taken seriously. she says she's decided against a second season of the tlc series. it was called "sarah palin's alaska." she actually said she enjoyed it a lot more than she thought she would. this sunday is the two-hour finale. it appears to be the last. >> and it did get a lot of bad press. i wonder if that was part of the decision. i have to focus on possibly the presidency. >> she even said despite the bad press, i enjoyed it that much. i think a lot of people thought it was a revealing side of her. we've seen so many sides of her. it's always different to see someone in their element. >> totally unscripted, i'm sure. i've gone ten days into the new year without talking about my favorite people on the planet, the kardashian family.
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they are back in the news. not necessarily a great reason. apparently they are now being sued for, get this, 75 million bucks. you remember a few months ago they put their face on this new mastercard-approved prepaid debit card. well, apparently they learned there were all these hidden fees and penalties. they eventually backed out of the deal. they signed a two-year deal to promote this thing to be the face of it. they found out about the fees and the penalties and so forth and said we don't like this. they back out. it prompted an investigation by the attorney general of connecticut. now the revenue resource group based in california are saying, look. you guys are not honoring your contract. you can't back out of this thing. and that company wants 75 million bucks from the kardashians. not that they're hurting for money, but that's not small change. >> i read all told they have something like 12 shows, which i don't even know how many that encompasses. they might actually have $75 million. >> all the siblings, the dog has a show. it's ridiculous. speaking of shows.
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the kennedy mini series we heard so much about with such an all-star cast. apparently a&e has shot it down. we'll give you a quick second to take a listen to it. the trailer itself you can see who they have in this acting. it's really impressive. >> it's not what you are. it's what people think you are. and with the right amount of money, you can make them think whatever you want. >> so "the hollywood reporter" had reported that basically it wasn't a good fit for the history channel. they're saying it's not historically as accurate because it could be -- keep in mind, this is the most expensive program in network history. should be interesting where it ends up now. >> interesting decision there. some baby news to report. apparently david and victoria beckham expecting child number four this summer. they have three boys. we'll see if they get lucky and have a girl this time around. if you are a fan of "30 rock," jane krakowski. her and her husband about to become first time parents. congrats to all the moms and dads-to-be.
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>> that's exciting. canceled shows and babies. canceled shows and babies.
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and here are some stories to watch today on abc news. french president nicolas sarkozy visits the white house today for meetings with president obama. sarkozy is pushing for reform of the international monetary system and wants to build u.s. support. former house majority leader tom delay is set to be sentenced today on conspiracy and money laundering charges in texas. the maximum sentence he could face, 99 years. and secretary of state hillary clinton is in abu dhabi meeting with arab leaders. she says arab nations should offer more financial support to the palestinians. well, the detroit auto show got started over the weekend. you could say the atmosphere at this year's show is electric. >> no pun intended. that's because one of the year's most talked about cars is ford's new electric car, a new version of the ford focus.
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chris bury got a chance to take one out for a spin. >> presenting the all new ford focus electric. >> reporter: for ford, it's back to the future. in 1914, henry ford's wife drove this electric car. now their great grandson bill in an exclusive interview says such cars are critical to ford. >> to me, these are very much about signaling where this company is headed and, frankly, where this country ought to be headed. >> reporter: we got a chance to test drive the new model. the electric focus is far more than a glorified golf cart. it accelerates quickly and quietly. 0 to 60 in less than ten seconds. unlike gm's volt, ford's electric car has no gasoline engine to back up the battery. it's range, 80 to 100 miles and a smart phone app talks to the car. >> you can basically call up your car and tell it to charge. >> charge now or wait to
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recharge until the utility rate goes down. >> reporter: ford is the latest automaker to mass produce plug-in cars. electric and hybrids are still a tiny sliver of the market but could make up 10% by 2020, depending on how many charging stations are built across the country. >> you are talking about hundreds of thousands of charging stations? >> yes, absolutely. and i believe that's going to be necessary in this country. >> reporter: nearly 100 years after ford's experiment with electric cars, the company says this time they are here to stay. chris bury, abc news, dearborn, michigan. >> and officials say really the next two years will be huge for the electric car market in this country. they'll see thousands of not only cars hit showrooms but also charging stations around the country and will get to the point where you'll have them in your garage. plug them in like you do your cell phone at night. >> unbelievable. they are saying two of the big areas they are targeting could be airports and shopping stations. and the numbers they are throwing around, something like 80% of the battery could be charged in as little as 30 minutes. so it wouldn't be -- >> and you're off. not bad. that cell phone thing must be cool, too. more news cococococococococococo
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